"I think Syracuse just did a great job of getting us out of our comfort zone," senior attack Eric Law said, "and making us really work for every pass and work for everything. They did a great job."

SU held the Pioneers to their lowest scoring output of the year to pull out a 9-8 win at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia to advance to the national championship game. Denver had 17 turnovers, and the Orange forced them into many one-and-done shots they had avoided for most of the year. For Syracuse, the win marked the seventh straight game it limited an opponent to fewer than 10 goals, no small feat against a Denver squad averaging 12.67 scores per contest.

"You've got to give credit to Syracuse," Pioneers head coach Bill Tierney said. "They've got a great group of athletes defensively. I thought they kind of got in our way a little bit, got us out of our game a little bit."

It became clear early on that Denver would not have the typical efficient offensive performance it has become so accustomed to.

SU forced five turnovers in the first quarter and four more in the second while the Pioneers managed just 10 shots in the first half.

Still, Denver built a 5-2 edge going into the break thanks to 13 saves from goalie Ryan LaPlante.

As the Pioneers continued to hold the lead, though, that forced the Orange to become more and more desperate.

"It forced us to pressure them a little more going down the stretch," Syracuse head coach John Desko said. "We knew we had to try to get some turnovers, especially with the faceoffs they were winning and the long possessions they had. Fortunately, it worked out."

In addition to the turnovers, SU also won most of the key individual matchups on its defensive end.

Even though Brian Megill typically covers opponents' biggest offensive threats, the Orange went with David Hamlin on Pioneers leading scorer Eric Law. Law scored three goals, but all three came on off-ball opportunities, and he never beat Hamlin on a dodge for a score. Meanwhile, Sean Young completely shut down Wes Berg, who was second in the country with 56 goals and had 12 in Denver's first two tournament games but failed to register a point Saturday.

"I think (Young) has taken a lot of pride," Desko said. "He's been given an individual matchup many times playing a player that is mostly off-ball, so he really takes a lot of pride in it. He rises to the occasion."

While Denver did finish with a very respectable .333 shot percentage, Tierney admitted that the Orange defense forced them into some uncharacteristic shots, too.

The Pioneers offense charged toward goal on a few occasions and took shots that would either score or lead to a Syracuse possession on a save or Orange back up.

That, combined with the 17 turnovers, allowed SU to take Denver out of its game, and again control play on the defensive end of the field.

"I think they had a plan," Tierney said. "And it was a good plan. ... My dad used to tell me there's always a winner and there's always a loser and you can look for the reasons for it, but one team played better than the other. Today it was Syracuse's day."